NAIROBI, Kenya — Israel has committed to helping Kenya fortify its cyber defences as the country grapples with a sharp rise in hacking and data breaches, officials announced at the opening of Cyber Week Africa 2025 in Nairobi.
Israeli Ambassador to Kenya Gideon Behar said his government is ready to work with Kenya to advance cybersecurity innovation and build regional resilience against growing digital threats.
“If a country doesn’t have cybersecurity today, it cannot advance, because everything is digitalized,” Ambassador Behar said. “Israel stands ready to support Kenya’s vision of becoming a regional hub for digital innovation and cybersecurity excellence.”
The envoy pointed to Israel’s globally recognized cyber ecosystem — anchored in government leadership, academic partnerships, and private sector innovation — as a potential model for Kenya’s digital transformation.
The week-long conference, themed “Compliance by Design: Securing Africa’s Digital Future,” has drawn policymakers, ICT experts, and delegates from across Africa to discuss strategies for strengthening cyber resilience and protecting national digital assets.
Cyber Threats on the Rise
The partnership comes as Kenya faces a steep increase in online crime.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that hacking incidents surpassed 100 million breaches in the nine months to September, underscoring the urgency of the country’s cybersecurity challenge.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) 2025 Economic Survey, reported online crimes nearly doubled to 3.5 billion last year.
The CA estimates that cyberattacks cost Kenyan institutions about $83 million (Sh10.7 billion) in 2024 — the second-highest losses recorded in Africa.
CA Director General David Mugonyi said the most targeted sectors include financial services, government agencies, telecommunications, education, hospitality, and manufacturing, with insider threats and online fraud remaining major risks.
Kenya’s Cybersecurity Push
ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo said the government is prioritizing data security and privacy as part of its national digital strategy.
“Embedding security, privacy, and accountability into the design of every digital system from inception is now a national priority,” Kabogo said.
The conference — hosted by the Kenya School of Government in partnership with the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4), CyberPro Global, and other partners — aims to boost regional capacity and encourage compliance with global cybersecurity standards.
Huawei Kenya’s enterprise business managing director Samuel Cheng emphasized the private sector’s role, noting that telecom firms and network providers must ensure the resilience of systems critical to the economy.
“As a critical provider of such networks, Huawei is firmly committed to ensuring that our solutions are secure and to developing leading network security solutions,” Cheng said.
With cyberattacks evolving rapidly, experts say partnerships like the Israel-Kenya collaboration could be key to safeguarding Africa’s digital future.
